http://hdl.handle.net/1893/238 Electronic copies of Languages, Cultures and Religions journal articles. Fri, 25 Sep 2026 11:51:48 GMT 2026-09-25T11:51:48Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38303 Title: ‘Rethink the Title of Your Talk, and Possibly its Substance’: On Speaking (out) About Palestine, Genocide, and Genre Author(s): Squires, Claire Abstract: Framed by a meditation on border-crossing of people and of texts, this essay reflects on the genre of autofiction in relation to the geopolitical contexts of Palestine and global literary marketplaces, as well as outlining a specific example of academic censorship in the context of the 2023– genocidal war on Gaza. It brings together an examination of Palestinian/diaspora literary texts (including Atef Abu Said’s The Book of Gaza: A City in Short Fiction (2014) and Don’t Look Left: A Diary of Genocide (2023), Zaina Arafat’s You Exist Too Much (2020), Yara Hawari’s The Stone House (2021), Ibtisam Azem’s The Book of Disappearance (2024) and Isabella Hammad’s Recognising the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative (2024)) with inscriptions of the author’s own experience, through the lens of publishing studies and literary sociology. The essay explores, by and beyond reading, how resistance, solidarity and activism can occur, while remaining cognisant of geopolitical inequities and privilege. With a focus on the genre of ‘autofiction’, this essay articulates personal and professional questions of academic freedom, activism and solidarity in the face of genocide, blending lived experience with book historical approaches. Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38303 2026-08-27T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38194 Title: Camden and Church Monuments Author(s): Vine, Angus Abstract: This article examines the epigraphic scholarship of William Camden through close readings first of his guidebook to Westminster Abbey, and then of his other works in which he discusses the histories of church monuments, epitaphs, and inscriptions. Camden emerges here as the pivotal figure between the continental epigraphic tradition, which sprung up in the mid-sixteenth century, and brought together philologically minded antiquaries focused on classical inscriptions, and a vein of specifically English church antiquarianism that appeared in the seventeenth century, and which turned instead to medieval and post-medieval remains, often with genealogical and heraldic motivations in mind. Camden’s epigraphic works have received little attention from modern scholars, certainly in comparison with either the Britannia or the Annales, but as this article shows, that neglect ignores both their significance for the history of scholarship and their considerable contemporary impact. Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38194 2026-06-25T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38185 Title: Is the rectum (still) a grave? Death in Naty Menstrual’s Continuadísimo Author(s): McCarthy, Eamon Abstract: In a cycle of three short stories published in Continuadísimo (2008), Naty Menstrual explores the deaths of her protagonists, who are travesti sex workers living with HIV/AIDS. In the first two stories, the travestis die by suicide; the eponymous La Mr Ed turns into a vine and La Angie in “La empastillada” cuts herself with a mirror. Selva, the protagonist of “Camarada Kaposi,” disappears after a man in uniform is seen in the hospital. At the height of the AIDS crisis in the USA in the 1980s, Bersani asked his provocative question “Is the rectum a grave?” (1987), and I will explore the ways in which Menstrual’s three stories can be read alongside this question. Her narratives retain the polemical aspects of Bersani’s essay, yet afford the protagonists dignified, almost mythical deaths. Her stories transcend the stigmas and sense of moral panic around HIV/AIDS that Bersani described to give an insight into the complex intersection of sex, class, sexuality, and subjectivity. In writing unapologetically about travesti sex workers, Menstrual, like Bersani, revels in the subversive potential of sex to shatter the self and she also re-signifies the imagery of death that marked early discourses around HIV/AIDS. Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38185 2026-03-09T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38119 Title: Accessing and Using Data without Informed Consent: Guiding Principles from Conversation Analysis Author(s): Joyce, Jack B; Benwell, Bethan; Parry, Ruth; Rhys, Catrin S Abstract: We critically reflect on ethical challenges of making, accessing, and using audio/video recordings for social research in which participants have not and/or cannot provide informed consent. We distinguish between two types of data: recordings for which informed consent for use for research purposes would have been feasible but was not obtained, for example, “classic” or “legacy” data collected during the early development of Conversation Analysis; and recordings for which informed consent for use for research purposes was, or will be, impossible to secure, for example, when participants’ contact details are unavailable or seeking consent could pose risks to researchers or other participants. We propose a set of guiding principles for the collection, access, and use of audio/video data for which participants’ consent for use for research purposes is absent. Thu, 03 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38119 2025-04-03T00:00:00Z